US designates Cuba as 'state sponsor of terrorism'

The State Department said in a statement on Monday that it had designated Cuba as "a State Sponsor of Terrorism" for repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbour to terrorists.

Washington:The US has added Cuba to the list of "State Sponsor of Terrorism", a move that might constrain the incoming Joe Biden administration's efforts to reshape relations with Havana.

US media had reported that the administration of outgoing President Donald Trump considered returning Cuba to the list before leaving office.

In a tweet on December 30, 2020, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said: "I denounce Sec of State Pompeo manoeuvres to include Cuba in the list of states sponsoring terrorism to please the anti-Cuban minority in Florida.

"US grants shelter and impunity to terrorist groups acting against Cuba from that territory."

Cuba had been put on the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 1982.

In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting US President to visit Cuba since 1928 following the warming of bilateral relations that began in December 2014, ending 54 years of hostility.

But tensions between Cuba and the US worsened after Trump took office in 2014.

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The Trump administration has increased the trade embargo, first imposed in 1962, which has banned American flights to Cuban cities except for Havana; barred cruise ships and yachts from visiting the island, and limited remittances Cuban-Americans send to their families on the island.

Washington has also re-instated Cuba into a list of countries that "do not fully cooperate with the US counter-terrorism efforts".

The decision prohibits the sale or license for the export of defence articles and services to the nations contained in the blacklist.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that the nation has condemned its inclusion in a US list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

Cuba condemns the US-announced "hypocritical and cynical designation" of the country as "a state sponsoring terrorism," the minister said on Twitter.

"The US political opportunism is recognized by those who are honestly concerned about the scourge of terrorism and its victims," he added.

(with Agency inputs)

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